1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method, system and computer program product for the distributed monitoring of a SOAP service.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many web-based Service Oriented Architectures utilize a SOAP API (application program interface) for providing services. SOAP is a protocol for exchanging XML-based messages over computer networks. Testing of this SOAP API is usually performed by the SOAP API designer, using manual testing tools that are heavily user-interactive. Once the initial testing is complete and passed, the SOAP API is then deployed across the production environment.
Several problems exist with this type of testing. For example, direct network access to the SOAP API for testing is required during the development phase of the test. This is required due to the interactive nature of the test development. This is a particular problem because direct network access is often unattainable from the test development location due to network/security restrictions. For example, a test engineer in Bangalore, India may not have access to a web service provided on an intranet in the United States. Additionally, if the SOAP service is to be made available across a wide network, there is often no testing of the SOAP service performance, availability and correctness from broad distributed locations. A solution is required to address the shortcomings of current SOAP API testing methods.